Cold Case Solved. The Murder of Canada's Media Was Both Bloody and Premeditated

But several clues that were held back, have now been made public and we may finally be able to take this to trial.

Or at least it should go to trial because what happened is criminal. Canadians have been robbed of their voice and history it's story.

The perpetrators of this heinous act must be prosecuted.

The Anatomy of a Crime

Crimes may vary in gravity, complexity, the kind of harm done, the state of mind required to commit a crime and the excuses used to validate the act. Traditionally, however, they are broken down into two parts: the physical called the ‘actus reus’ (Latin for criminal act) and the mental ‘mens rea’ (criminal mind).

I intend to prove that the murder of Canadian media was premeditated and fits all of the criteria of a criminal act, carried out by an organized gang of criminal minds.

The Physical Act: An attempt to change the ideological fabric of the country formerly known as Canada, through genocide and cannibalism.

In 1970, Keith Davey's senate committee on mass media sounded a warning about the increasing concentration of [media] ownership. Eleven years later, with the disappearance of even more newspapers, another federal investigation, this one headed up by Tom Kent, raised the alarm again. Not only were independent newspapers being bought out by such major chains as Southam and Thomson but chains were now swallowing up other chains. (1)

A failure to act: Harm may occur because a suspect does not prevent it. In this way, the Government of Canada became a willing accomplice, by standing by while a criminal act was in progress.

Government remained complicit in this steady erosion of democracy by declining to act on the key recommendations coming out of these [senate] reviews, a press ownership review board, and a Canadian newspaper act. (1)

As a result Black's influence extended to 425 radio stations, 76 TV outlets, and 142 cable stations, and though he eventually sold off his holdings, the trend continued.

Between 1990 and 2005 there were a number of media corporate mergers and takeovers in Canada. For example, in 1990, 17.3% of daily newspapers were independently owned; whereas in 2005, 1% were. These changes, among others, caused the Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications to launch a study of Canadian news media in March 2003. (This topic had been examined twice in the past, by the Davey Commission (1970) and the Kent Commission (1981), both of which produced recommendations that were never implemented in any meaningful way.)

The Senate Committee’s final report, released in June 2006, expressed concern about the effects of the current levels of news media ownership in Canada. Specifically, the Committee discussed their concerns regarding the following trends: the potential of media ownership concentration to limit news diversity and reduce news quality. (2)

The victim’s state of mind: Sometimes a person’s guilt will depend on the state of mind of the alleged victim. Some actions are criminal only when performed without consent. In the media's murder, consent was given by our government and our own complacency. But then, murder is murder.

With successive takeovers, more and more Canadian newspaper staff lost their jobs — 1,550 over three years in the Southam chain after Hollinger took over. Hollinger president David Radler, a.k.a. "The Human Chainsaw," radically cuts staff at small-circulation papers to create cash flow for new acquisitions. With fewer journalists on staff, news editors increasingly turn to the copy provided by organizations like the Fraser Institute to fill the "news holes" between advertisements in their papers.

The preference for right-wing copy starts at the top of Hollinger, with CEO Conrad Black and vice-president of editorial Barbara Amiel, whose neo-conservative views are documented in Maude Barlow and James Winter's The Big Black Book: The Essential Views of Conrad and Barbara Amiel Black. As well as running Amiel's weekly column, Black hired his cousin Andrew Coyne and Amiel's ex-husband, George Jonas, to flog their conservative views in Southam papers. David Radler, who has said it is important to have his employees fear him, states flatly that Hollinger papers, on principle, will endorse only free-enterprise parties, explicitly ruling out any paper's support for the NDP. (1)

And this is why many in the media are now simply using copy and photos, produced by the PMO. It's often the only way they can meet their deadlines. It worked well for Mike Harris.

The Criminal State of Mind (Mens Rea): In describing the mental element required for such crimes against democracy, we can see that there was a definite intent and a desired goal, in the murder of Canadian media. Case in point is one victim Saturday Night.

The transformation of Saturday Night magazine after Black bought it has also been a factor in the prevalence of right-wing opinion in the Canadian print media. With former Alberta Report staffer Kenneth Whyte as the magazine's editor, Saturday Night has been serving up a steady diet of Whyte's "advice for the right" columns, mean-spirited critiques of such Canadian heroes as anti—child labour activist Craig Kielburger and Farley Mowat, and articles on why women should be in the home rather than the workforce. Saturday Night gives yet another platform for Southam columnists Andrew Coyne and George Jonas to air their views, as well as to neo-conservative journalists from the Sun newspaper chain, such as David Frum, Michael Coren, and Peter Worthington.

In his biography of Conrad Black, The Establishment Man, published in 1982, Peter C. Newman provided an insight into the fate that would inevitably befall Saturday Night once Black took it over. Newman's book contains the following excerpt from a letter Black wrote to American arch-conservative William F. Buckley on how to change a magazine the way Buckley had transformed National Review:

"I take the liberty of writing to you on behalf of many members of the journalistic, academic and business communities of this country who wish to convert an existing Canadian magazine into a conveyance for views at some variance with the tired porridge of ideological normalcy in vogue here as in the U.S.A. [during the 1970s]. We are aware of the lack in Canada of serious editorial talent of an appropriate political coloration .. . We are, however, people of some means as well as of some conviction, and unless faced by an insuperable economic barrier, intend to persevere with our plans, to execution."

As though the rightward turn of Canada's self-described "most influential magazine" was not enough, the Donner Foundation financed two new right-wing magazines. Next City, established in 1994 with a $1.4-million commitment from the foundation, seems to specialize in eroding compassion for the poor. (1)

Crime Accelerated to Bio-Terrorism: After getting away with murder, the criminals at large are now plotting an even more devious act. They are engaged in bio-terrorism, and it appears that they will be allowed to do so without interference.

A viral strain known as Haemophilus Ruperta Murdochus influenza, or more commonly referred to as the Rupert Murdoch Flu, has been transported from the U.S. in a petri dish and has been allowed to mutate. It will be released on society through Fox News North.

The first stage of contact will be constant attacks on Muslims, women, gays and minorities.

Symptoms will include the desensitizing of those formerly known as Canadians, so that they will be more accepting of constant attacks on Muslims, women, gays and minorities.

The final stages of this virus, before the imminent death of democracy, will be a political atmosphere so toxic that it will not be safe to leave your home without a gas mask.

But all is not lost. There may be an antidote.

A Russian scientist, Ivhad Enoff, has been working on a cure, and is patenting it under the name TurnTheDamnedThingOff.

Sources:1. The Myth of the Good Corporate Citizen: Canada and Democracy in the Age of Globalization, By Murray Dobbin, James Lorimer & Company, 2003, ISBN: 1-55028-785-0, Pg. 209-2112. Wikipedia

4 comments:

As a victim of the death of Canadian journalism, I could go on and on, but I'm just glad it's all coming out. I used to jump up and down and yell about it but no one would listen, and I wore my silly self out.Conrad Black should be shot with one of those unregistered long guns the neo-cons are so determined to help keep hidden.

As people lose confidence in our criminal laws I see a trend toward more and more of this type of commentary, attended by increasing criminalization of citizens and corporations for trivial acts. Clearly the symmetries between the decisions of Canada's loudest policy voices, the media and our Governments depict a framework wherein totalitarian and anarchist solutions are gaining enduring footholds.